A priceless memory

The Great Wolf Lodge promises a boat-load of family fun.
What we received instead was a boat-load of “family firsts.”
By that I mean this was the first family vacation spent with just the five of us, in a hotel room, for one night.
After spending much of our weekend at an indoor soccer complex, I decided it was time to do something a little more “family friendly” other than watching soccer – three hours of that was enough.
We drove home and I jumped on the Internet, in search of some much-needed family fun.
And, the Great Wolf Lodge has always been in the back of my mind.
My husband, who is a whiz at ordering all sorts of stuff online, took over as AAA while I attempted to pack in secret (it was like David Copperfield meets Super Mom).
I was locking doors; hiding items under my shirt; telling the kids to “GO WATCH TV” (something I never actually beg them to do); and using my super-sleuth skills, grabbing suitcases without them noticing.
Seth must have caught on to my spy skills, because after the bags were packed and while I watched TV with the children, he ran out of the house at super-speed with the bags, tossed them into the Traverse and covered them with a blanket.
The next part in “Operation Overnight” was getting them into the car, without asking a million questions.
The twins fell asleep about 10 minutes into the drive, but our 9-year-old fought going to sleep like it was his job. Every exit we passed, he was more confused. We giggled in the front two seats.
Finally, 40 minutes later, we made it to our destination – Great Wolf Lodge in Sandusky, Ohio.
The kids were so excited, I thought they were going to jump out of the car and run into the building without us.
As we all walked in together, the look on their faces was amazing – smiles literally from ear to ear as we walked around.
We made it up to our room and immediately they threw their clothes all over the carpet (ewww!) and put on their swimming suits WITHOUT BEING ASKED! (This must have been my Christmas miracle!)
The balmy 84 degree water resort was awesome – even for adults! There were tons of pools, water slides and other water-related devices – IE – a big water dumper that every single time we hear loud clicking, we waited for someone to stupidly walk under the bucket only to get sloshed by gallons upon gallons of water – it never got old!
Seth and I were so excited after dinner, because we went to the water park again for an hour, thinking to ourselves, “We will get to watch TV tonight, on the little couch and drink wine because the kids will definitely clonk out early!”
We were wrong – so very, very, very wrong.
Here’s a little snippet of what went down from 10 p.m. to 9 a.m. (ENJOY!)
10 p.m. – Twins wide awake, asking for food (this is what happens when only fries and cucumbers are eaten from a $10 kiddie meal.) We fed them, again. KK informs us she wishes she was home because “she missed her toys and her dollies.”
10:30 p.m. – Ethan is fast asleep (thank you soccer tournament!), but the twins were burning the midnight oil like I have never seen in my life. The adults crack open a bottle of wine.
11 p.m. – Seth takes them back to their “bed” and tucks them in. KK decides she needs to get her sippy cup from our mini-fridge (if we could have brought that fridge home, she would have put it in her room and never left), which meant Georgie had to get his cup too. This would also be the ideal time to make note that there were two queen-size beds between the five of us. I guess since I had to “carry” the twins for nearly 9 months, I was the “WINNER” to share a bed with them.
11:15 p.m. – I throw in the towel and go to bed. Figured, if I go to sleep WITH THEM they will sleep too.
11:30 p.m. – Seth goes to bed. The room is dark. Georgie freaks out. Turns the TV back on, turns it toward the bedroom area because he needed “a light to see.” (We had the bathroom light turned on, which we were able to see from the reflection from the vanity mirror.)
11:45 p.m. to midnight – Twins toss and turn, jump out of bed, jump back in bed, walk all over me.
Midnight – I finally hear snoring. Thank God they were asleep!!
Midnight until 9 a.m. – I hear KK talking in her sleep; I hear KK telling Georgie to “SCOOT OVER!!!;” I hear Georgie snoring; I hear and feel them moving; I finally relocate to the foot of the bed, without a pillow and somehow make a makeshift sleeping bag from the comforter that I am sure every other parent used. I toss the third pillow next to KK to protect her from falling out of the bed. I stretch my arm out next to Georgie to make sure if he moves, I can catch him before he falls. He only falls once during the night – I have quick reflexes like a cat!
9 a.m. – Alarm goes off.
9:20 a.m. – We are back at the Water Park.
10:55 a.m. – We check out of Great Wolf Lodge! (Official checkout time is 11 a.m.)
ONE SPONTANIOUS TRIP TO GREAT WOLF LODGE — $300
ONE SLEEPLESS NIGHT – NO PRICE BUT I FEEL LIKE I AM OWED MONEY
THREE HAPPY KIDS – PRICELESS